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Friday, July 11, 2014

Street Closing In Broad Ripple Announced To Combat Violence

Broad Ripple Avenue in Indianapolis will now be closed every weekend from midnight to 4:00 a.m. in an effort to reduce violence after last weekend's Fourth of July shooting of eight people. Only emergency vehicles and taxis will be granted access to the street. City officials maintain that the move is not intended to turn the avenue into an street party during those hours along a street lined with bars.

Police have still not apprehended the person responsible for the shooting that took place in the presence of at least ten patrol officers who were in the area when the shooting occurred and have asked the public for help in identifying a suspect. This appears to be a plan to force more people to park in Ersal Ozdemir's parking garage, which was built with $6.5 million of your taxpayer dollars in consideration for all the campaign contributions he has made to Mayor Ballard, rather than a plan to reduce violence. News reports have indicated that few people park in the garage that neighborhood officials clamored to have built.

11 comments:

Indianapolis has a very weak road grid and limited access. There will now be no way to get from 700 East to 2200 East from 5600 North to 8000 North.

This is a dangerous, incompetent and unsafe limitation of access. Broad Ripple Avenue is a major thoroughfare, not a cute side street like Bourbon or Beale.

If they are going to close Broad Ripple Avenue, they need to build a bridge on 71st Street across the White River, connecting College Avenue to Keystone, allowing traffic a full and unfettered means of bypassing Broad Ripple.

Closing a "major thoroughfare" for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning a couple of nights a week in the summer won't be much of a disruption to the City. Most of the disruptive parties at that hour are arriving there from some distance away, and are somewhat reliant on getting rides there. To th extent hanging out is a moveable feast, the action may make it a bit less attractive, and the group that for now has chosen Broad Ripple for their private block party just might move elsewhere, which is another way of noting that while the action may impact "this" problem, it likely won't solve "the" problem.

Well, lets try it for a while and see if it works. To me Broadripple is just one big bar. That’s what its known for. That’s why people go there. Bars. So neighbors complaining about drunk bar patrons kind of falls on deaf ears. You don’t want shots fired. But its all about being a wild and crazy place, so in today’s world, that means there may be some gunplay when these partiers get drunk. I’m less worried about Broadripple and more worried about Black Expo coming up. And lately all we keep hearing from our police officers is how they’re under attack. In my opinion if Broadripple and Black Expo start fomenting regular gun battles its time to close them down. I’m all for the kids having a good time, but once it starts being a regular violent thing, its not worth the risk.

This is a public street, not a private drive owned by the Broad Ripple merchants! They have NO RIGHT to close this on a regular basis without a permit, just like any other private enterprise that wants to close a street. Then they have to provide insurance, barricades, and proper staffing when private entities get a permit to close a street. It is wrong for the taxPAYERS to be forced to pay for this private closing of a city street and provide caretaking for their summer weekends.

How about the Mayor follow this plan:

--Require Broad Ripple Merchants to obtain a permit, provide insurance, staffing, and barricades for a specific purpose. The purpose of the closing cannot be "to allow gang members and thugs to wreak havoc or mayhem on the people of Indianapolis" or

--Deny closing of this public street for private businesses to enhance their revenue at a cost of public safety and, instead, tell the merchants that Code Enforcement will use Nuisance Abatement ordinances and laws to SHUT DOWN the nuisance businesses that cater and support this type of clientele and hold them accountable for attracting riotous behavior and gunfire. Also involve the State Excise Police and the local Alcoholic Beverage Board to issue emergency license suspensions and revoke the licenses of irresponsible permitees.

(As a side note: By what authority is The Mayor closing public streets to allow regular private events without permits and liability insurance????

Are you kidding? The man Ballard put in charge of his MBE racketeering operation, Greg Wilson, is the head of Black Expo's board. Black Expo is now part of the Ballard racket to buy black votes, along with the Ten Points Coalition.

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